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Doc Drumheller

Doc Drumheller has published 10 collections of poetry and has worked in theatre and music groups. In 2003 he founded the literary magazine Catalyst as a forum for young and emerging writers in Canterbury, New Zealand. In 2014 he completed the final stages of his ten year, ten book series: 10 x (10 + ˉ10) = 0, during his time as writer in residence at the Hagley Community College, Christchurch.

10 x (10 + ˉ10) = 0 is a 10 year project by Doc Drumheller. There are 10 books (one per year) in this series, published in Christchurch, New Zealand by The Republic of Oma Rāpeti Press. There are 20 poems in each book, inspired by the most significant events of that particular year, written using restriction writing techniques e.g.: restricted by the amount of syllables or words per line. Parts 10 & ˉ10 in each book are palindromes, which means they read the same backwards as forwards. Each book is designed to be cut up and reassembled and the poetry creates shapes inspired by DNA strands and explores phonemes like a mathematic symphony. The poems reproduced here are from the book The Architecture of Apocalypse. Previous parts of 10 x (10 + ˉ10) = 0 have been featured in performances at the McDougall Art Gallery, The Dunedin Fringe Festival, The Wellington Fringe Festival, and the Third Wellington International Poetry Festival.